Robert Ratcliffe on his Sci-Fi musical universe: 'Chronicles of the Residuum'

Music maverick Robert Ratcliffe tells MN about the sci-fi fantasy musical universe he's created: 'Chronicles of the Residuum'.

Prepare for impact—Robert Ratcliffe’s electrifying latest single 'Storm Flight', preceded by the rollercoaster debut 'Escape From Port Fallen', plunges listeners into the heart of a desperate escape through the Aksanikath storm, where prophecy, survival, and cinematic tension collide!

As the second release from his decade-in-the-making concept album 'Chronicles of the Residuum: The Age of Destruction' (out 30th October) , this track captures the chaos and courage of a small plane fleeing war-torn Port Fallen with the prophesied child Unagu aboard, engines failing and lightning raging.

Inspired by sci-fi, fantasy, and legendary concept albums, Ratcliffe’s visionary soundscape fuses orchestral grandeur with electronic intensity. In fact the forthcoming album is, indeed, an epic journey through music, myth, and immersive storytelling. We decided to find out more about Robert Ratcliffe's incredible creation...!

Hi Robert - lots to talk about! Where do we find you at present?
Hey there, I’m currently in my office / studio in Manchester, setting things up for the album release in October.

Tell us about the first single from the 'Chronicles Of the Residuum' saga: 'Escape From Port Fallen': what inspired the post-apocalyptic world of the Residuum?
Post-apocalyptic settings became more common in fiction during the second-half of the twentieth century in the aftermath of World War II when the threat of nuclear war emerged. Artists and audiences are drawn to this type of setting because it reflects our fears and anxieties about the state of the world. Today, the climate crisis, a global pandemic, or a large-scale conflict could all lead to a post-apocalyptic scenario, and this danger and volatility is reflected in the continued popularity of the post-apocalyptic genre.



The Residuum contains various post-apocalyptic elements, including the setting featured in the first single Escape from Port Fallen, which is a former naval shipyard ruled by the warlord Zonkhaar. From this point the main characters journey deeper into the Residuum, which becomes more fantastical as the album and story unfold. There are more familiar elements to begin with, such as vehicles from the twentieth century, but with the exception of a few carefully placed references to our civilization and time period (for example, a Gothic cathedral), the Residuum becomes less like the world we know, and one in which time and reality have been scrambled and the natural laws distorted. There is a strong fantasy element inspired by the works of Tolkien and others, and I’ve always been fascinated by descriptions of a far future Earth transformed over time in the works of Gene Wolfe, Jack Vance and those in the Dying Earth genre. The stranger aspects of the Residuum were inspired by altered reality fiction and even art featuring optical illusions, anamorphosis and hidden elements, as found in the works of Arcimboldo, Dali, Escher, Orosz and others. The unsolved problems and latest theories of physics, neuroscience and cosmology were also a source of inspiration.

The beats in 'Escape From Port Fallen' are pure adrenaline. How do you balance pulse-pounding rhythm with emotional storytelling?
A range of emotions are evoked in this track, from anger and anxiety to grief and sorrow. The rhythmic material plays an important part in eliciting some of these emotions, but it’s more to do with the way the music combines with the spoken narrative. I approached the incorporation of the spoken word element in two ways: in the first, the beat-driven sections are contrasted with passages where the music becomes less active – the texture thins or the rhythmic material is subdued creating space for the narration and helping the listener to focus more on the story and process the action in relation to the surrounding music. A different approach was used for the longer sections of narration at the start and end of the tracks. Here the narration goes into more detail filling in the backstory or exploring the lore and worldbuilding of the Residuum, and it was important for the sounds to sit underneath and support the narrative without becoming obtrusive or distracting the listener, similar to the way a composer might underscore a film or TV show.

In second single 'Storm Flight', we’re thrown into the heart of the Aksanikath storm. How did you translate that chaos and urgency into sound?
For this track I researched the hurricane hunters in the US who regularly fly reconnaissance missions through tropical storms to collect weather data. This gave me an idea of the conditions inside such a storm and it was a case of imagining myself in that situation and translating the experience and emotions into audio. This involved making musical decisions at various structural levels, from the tempo, tonality and overall structure of the track down to the various note and rhythmic patterns and related sound design. Structurally the track is modelled on a flight through a hurricane, from the initial approach and convergence of the clouds through to the penetration of the eye and eventual escape into cloudless skies. At the start of the track there are various referential elements such as wind and thunderclap sounds that set the scene and create a sense of foreboding. The growing power and fury of the storm is articulated through the introduction of various bass and bass drum sounds, with sequences, hits, sweeps, reverses and wooshes layered over the top to convey different aspects of the storm, including strong updrafts and downdrafts, thunder and lightning, rain and ice, flying debris and even impacts against the plane’s fuselage. Epic pad sounds and swirling drones convey the awe-inducing sight at the centre of the storm, before the plane hits the far side of the eyewall and they feel the full force of Aksanikath. At the end of the track the texture gradually thins and elements from the introduction return before the drums fade out and tranquil pads indicate their emergence from the storm.



These singles definitely feel like scenes from a sci-fi fantasy epic. Did you always envision this project as a multimedia narrative?
Due to the economics of the music industry and the difficulty in sustaining a project financially, the project needed to be capable of generating different revenue streams, in particular through the non-musical aspects of the project such as the story and artwork. My original vision was to create a narrated album with accompanying artwork like Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War of the Worlds that could provide a platform for further related musical works and adaptations of the project in different media, such as a graphic novel, animated version or theatrical production. There was a point halfway through the process when I considered releasing the album as an instrumental, but ultimately, I stuck to my original vision and now with the worldbuilding, constructed languages and visual elements there is much to build upon. A long-term goal is for a Netflix or Prime to adapt the story into a film or series. So, if anyone from those companies is reading, feel free to hit me up…

Unagu—the First and Last Child—is central to the story. What do they represent in this fractured universe?
Unagu is the only child to be born within the Residuum, and is believed to be the chosen one prophesised to bring an end to the war and restore all that was lost. She represents hope in a broken world, but there’s only so much I can say without giving away the plot of the sequel.

You’ve cited influences from The Prodigy to Hans Zimmer. How do you fuse EDM energy with orchestral drama?
Fusing different styles and genres is something that I’ve had lot of formal experience with due to my PhD in composition in which I developed different techniques and strategies for musical hybridisation. At the start of the Residuum project, I thought very carefully about the soundworld of the Residuum, and put together a palette of sounds and instruments that corresponded with what I was hearing in my mind – a cross between the electronic dance music of the 90s and the modern cinematic music and sound design of Hans Zimmer, Tom Holkenborg and others. After collating the various instruments and sounds, it was a case of experimenting with materials and structures and manipulating different sonic and musical parameters until I gradually built up a vocabulary of techniques and elements that worked together. This was mostly intuitive, but it was helpful to think of the material in terms of a spectrum with electronic dance material at one end of the scale and cinematic elements at the other and points in between where they merge, and there are a multitude of different ways in which the two can be combined.

What role does electronic music play in shaping the tension and atmosphere of the Residuum?
For a project of this kind, you would expect to start with the script and to construct the music around the story, but I did things differently and began with a handful of my own concept drawings and some initial visual ideas about the Residuum, such as the setting of a ruined cathedral and a nest of giant spider-like creatures. These visuals inspired me to start making music and sounds, and with the exception of the underscore sections at the start and end of tracks, the entire album was composed and produced before the story was written. Working in this way meant that the music played an important role in shaping the narrative because the sounds and structures of the tracks directly influenced the story which was written afterwards. This allowed me to achieve greater integration between the story, narration and music, creating something greater than the sum of its parts.

The forthcoming album draws from sci-fi, fantasy, and horror - what were your main influences and how did you distill them into the narrative?
The album is a culmination of a lifetime of interest in all things sci-fi, fantasy and horror. There are far too many influences to mention, but in terms of style and language some of the main literary ones include classics by H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Olaf Stapledon. I was also influenced by the epic, archaic, and poetic qualities of Tolkien’s work, along with his detailed worldbuilding, deep lore and use of constructed languages. The same goes for Herbert’s Dune series, and Gene Wolfe’s Solar Cycle with its hidden and non-linear elements. I also love the writing of Alan Garner, especially The Weirdstone of Brisingamen and The Moon of Gomrath, which were favourites during my childhood.

With tracks dropping every two weeks until album release in October, how are you pacing the story’s emotional arc?
Escape from Port Fallen was chosen as the first single because it’s the most immediate sounding track and the one in which we first encounter the main characters Anku and Unagu after the opening Prologue. It was originally meant to be the first of three singles, but due to the positive response from listeners, I switched to a podcast-type release strategy in which the album tracks are released in sequential order, with a new track available every two weeks - this works because the tracks function like chapters or episodes. By the time the full album drops on 30th October (World Audio Drama Day), we will have released two-thirds of the tracks, and reached an important point in Anku’s journey and transformational arc. So, the release strategy and pacing are story-driven, rather than music-driven.

You’ve worked with Grammy winners, voice artists, and even the creators of languages for Game of Thrones and Dune. How did these collaborations come about and how did they elevate the project?
As this was my first commercial project, I did not have any industry contacts to draw upon. Everyone involved in the album was contacted via cold email with the exception of René LaVice (remixer of Storm Flight) who was introduced to me by René’s manager at the time, Nick Halkes (founder of XL Recordings and manager of The Prodigy).

Each member of the team came onboard due to the strength of the music and ideas I presented to them, and fortunately they liked what they heard. Having the opportunity to work with such incredibly talented people made a huge difference, in particular to the scope of the project, as it allowed me to develop or explore certain aspects more fully (such as the inclusion of constructed languages) and to realise my original vision of creating an immersive multimedia work rather than a more traditional music album. From John Cavanagh’s wonderful voice and captivating narration, to Igor Kieryluk’s beautiful and dynamic illustrations, each contribution elevated the project in its own way and helped to bring the characters and world of the Residuum to life. However, an important consideration was how to integrate these different elements so they felt like interconnected parts of a larger whole rather than individual contributions that were created separately. I approached this by offering my collaborators as much direction as possible and made sure to provide detailed comments and feedback throughout the process - as well as conceiving the project, writing the story, and composing and producing the music, I oversaw and contributed to all stages of production, from performing guide vocals, to creating the meanings behind place and character names, and producing concept art briefs for the illustrators. This approach helped to unify the various elements, and again, create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Once the album is released- what's next? Will there be more narratives to bring forth?
There are lots of exciting plans in the pipeline. The album (The Age of Destruction) is just part one of the story and the next release could be a full-blown sequel or it might be a prequel revealing more of Anku’s backstory. There will be more remixes of the album tracks including one by Nick Halkes in the style of Purple Disco Machine. I’ve also started to adapt the story into a graphic novel working with an acclaimed comic artist, and there are plans for different kinds of merchandise and collectibles. Further down the line there will be virtual performances and eventually an immersive live show. Stay tuned!

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